Lock-in Amplifiers

Focus on Recovering Signals in Optical Experiments - Q&A

23.11.2020

This blog post accompanies the webinar “Focus on signal processing in optical experiments". Thank you to everybody who joined the live event and participated actively by voting in the poll and asking so many relevant questions. The answers to all questions are provided at the end of this blog post...

Getting Additional Insights into Your Setup with the MF-DIG Option

08.11.2020

Lock-in amplifiers are at their best when rejecting the noise and increasing the signal-to-noise ratio. When the setup is well characterized the measurements are carried out at a single frequency and measured against external parameters. Throughout the measurement, detailed noise spectra reveal critical changes in the physics of the experiment...

Retrieving the Carrier Frequency of Phase-Modulated or Carrier-Suppressed Signals with Costas Loops

08.11.2020

Phase-locked loops (PLLs) are widely used to recover the frequency of a carrier signal in many detection systems such as lock-in amplifiers and data receivers. To properly lock to the carrier phase and extract its frequency, a clean reference separate from the signal or a pilot tone within the signal must be provided for the PLL...

The Many Applications of the MF-MD Multi-Demodulator Option

24.08.2020

In my research days, lock-in amplifiers were a standard fixture in a transport measurement setup, and there were many of them. Each lock-in measured one signal in the experiment. Adding more lock-in amplifiers in the setup was the only way to learn more about the device transport properties, but this...

Optimize Signal Acquisition for Optics and Photonics Measurements

16.06.2020

This blog post accompanies the two webinars "Optimize signal acquisition for optical measurements" and "Optimize signal acquisition for optics and photonics measurements". Thank you to everybody who joined the live event and participated actively by asking so many questions. In this blog post, I want to summarize the content of...

Nanostructure Transport Characterization - Q&A

25.05.2020

Thank you to everyone who attended the "Nanostructure transport characterization" Webinar. It was my first webinar and it was an amazing experience for the whole team. We received a lot of questions and in this post I will answer most of them by grouping them into four categories: Measurement tools...

Sensor Characterization and Control

25.05.2020

Sensors come in different flavors. They can be inertial devices for motion detection, tehy can be based on photosensitive materials, they can absorb surrounding molecules to detect their concentration, and so on. Developments in micromachining and micro-/nano-electromechanical system (MEMS/NEMS) technologies led to miniaturization and low power consumption. Hence, multiple sensors...

Choosing the Right Tool to Acquire Lock-in Data

20.02.2020

A crucial part of setting up an experiment is to integrate proper instrumentation to collect and save data. It is important not only to have correct results but also to ensure an efficient workflow. This blog post and related video will help you to answer the question: what is the...

A Deep Dive into Data Acquisition with the DAQ Tool

25.11.2019

Looking at the heart of experimental science you will find data acquisition. Why? Because even the most perfectly conceived experiment is worth nothing if nobody acquires, analyzes and stores data for further analysis and reproduction of results. Despite its obvious importance, data acquisition does not always receive the necessary attention...

Synchronizing Multiple MFLI Lock-in Amplifiers

16.09.2019

Multi-channel signal generation and detection are indispensable in many applications such as multi-qubit quantum computing and multi-sensor systems. Synchronization of signal channels comes to the equation when the temporal sequence of events is of interest, especially for fast physical phenomena with short lifetimes...